Modern aircraft may utilize one or more turbofan propulsion systems powered by a gas turbine engine. The propulsion system may include a nacelle, which is a system of components that house the engine and its ancillary systems, and help form aerodynamic surfaces for flight, including a fan bypass air duct. Often, the nacelle includes a thrust reverser which has a translating sleeve and an inner fixed structure.
In conventional thrust reversers, the translating sleeve and the inner fixed structure are connected and hinge open together at a hinge attached to the pylon. In order to install an engine on an aircraft wing, hoists are coupled to the pylon with the thrust reverser hinged open or removed completely, and cables are coupled to the hoists and to attachment features or other attachment points provided on the engine case. The engine is then lowered or raised by the hoists and the cables. However, some thrust reverser designs will not allow for easy access to attachment features on the engine case because of their different structure. For example, in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/508,637 from the same assignee as this invention, Rohr, Inc., a UTC Aerospace Systems Company, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety, a nacelle system is proposed in which several embodiments include an inner fixed structure around the engine core that does not hinge open with the rest of the thrust reverser structure, and thus opening the thrust reverser does not provide ready access to attachment features provided on the engine case. This invention proposes a solution for how to attach ground support equipment such as hoists and cables to an engine with these or similar nacelle features.